Elspeth Huxley

Elizabeth Fiona Oldfield (University of Derby)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of York), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

Born 23 Jul 1907
Died 10 Jan 1997
Activity 1959-1997

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Editor
Novelist
Travel writer

Resources

Huxley's Works

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Elspeth Huxley, the “chronicler of colonial Kenya” (Lyall), is known for her African writing, particularly her semi-autobiographical novel,

The Flame Trees of Thika

(1959). Her forty-eight works comprise biographies, semi-autobiographical memoirs, novels, detective stories, travel books, political commentary and polemics. On 10th December 1921, at the age of fourteen, her first piece of writing was published in the

East African Standard

under the pseudonym ‘Bamboo’, and she continued writing up to her death. Widely regarded as “the veritable proponent of British imperialism in Africa” (Burnett, 289) Huxley’s African writing and identity spawns critical reaction from indigenous African writers and critics such as Chinua Achebe, who condemn her for “consider[ing] herself an…

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1950 words

Citation: Oldfield, Elizabeth Fiona. "Elspeth Huxley". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 November 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2282, accessed 25 November 2024.]